Low virtual memory?

[PhilBy]

My son has just purchased a 2nd hand computer with 20Gb hard drive.... It boots up fine & has XP pro installed with plenty of free space, the problem is that's very slow and often dispalys a message stating that it has low virtual memory?.... Also it will not not shut down when requested and you have to use the on/off switch. He only needs it for his college work with limited internet access but is this machine best scrapped?

[vehelpfulguy]

It may be that it is an old computer that is not powerful enough to run Windows XP.

You can check the components of the computer by finding the System Tools menu and selecting System Information.

This will display lots of hardware information. The main things you need to know are the Processor and the Total Physical memory.

The processor will be shown as Mhz, something like 999Mhz. If it is a low number, say less than 500, you may have trouble running XP.

The memory will be shown as MB, something like 128Mb.

If it is LESS than 128Mb it will have problems with XP. If it is exactly 128Mb you may be able to just get away with it. More than 128Mb will be OK.

You can post the numbers here and we will advise you.

[vehelpfulguy]

Virtual Memory is a bit more difficult to explain.

A computer has REAL memory, the number in my append above, 128Mb for example. All programs that you run (Like Windows XP or Word, or a game) are placed in REAL memory.

Now supposeing REAL memory fills up, what does windows do ?

Well it copies part of REAL memory out to hard disk in something called VIRTUAL MEMORY.

When you install Windows is reserves a piece of hard disk for its VIRTUAL MEMORY. But you only have a small hard disk (20Gb) so it only gave you a small amount of virtual memory.

Of course when that fills up as well Windows has nowhere to go.

You can increase your virtual memory as follows (the options may have different names depending on how you have XP set up)..

Chose Start, then Settings, then Control Panel. Change the Control Panel to be Classic View (top left)

Then double click on the System icon.

Choose the Advanced tab, then in the Performance area choose the Settings button.

On the Performnance Options window choose the Advanced tab. Near the bottom it says Virtual memory.

Press the Change button. Probably best to increase the Maximum size. Add 500 to it. So if it is currently a 1000 make it 1500. Save your change, reboot and try again.

It that does not help increase it by 500 again.

[vehelpfulguy]

I will add one more thing that is a general comment about running Windows XP on old computers.

Generally when a computer comes out it is just about powerful enough to run the version of Windows out at the time.

The early versions of Windows, called Windows 95 (1995), then Windows 98 (1998) then Windows ME (2000) were all fine for running on older computers.

Now Windows XP is not the same as Windows 95, 98 or ME. It is a far more complex and powerful operating system, and requires a more powerful PC.

If you try and install and run Windows XP on a computer that was built for 98 or ME you will have problems.

Nowadays you can buy a new system unit (the main PC box) for under �200, maybe even �150. You are far better buying a new system unit with XP on it, and using your existing screen, mouse, keyboard speakers etc.

That may be a better way to go. Sounds an ideal xmas present.

[Space]

Short answer:
The computer doesn't have enough memory.
Turn it off, open it, find whether there is an available slot for an extra memory module.
If there is, buy 256MB or memory (of the appropriate type) and plug it in.

Unlike what someone wrote here, 128MB is NOT enought to run WindowsXP at a reasonable speed.
With 256MB, you might get rid of the "low virtual memory" message, but the computer will still be very slow because of a lack of memory.
I recommend 512MB .